The new LumiForge resin 3D printer is a professional upgrade to the LumiPocket LT

Mar 3, 2016 | By Alec

It’s doubtlessly an extremely busy time over in the HQ of Lumi Industries in Italy. Just half a year ago, they found crowdfunding success on Kickstarter with the excellent all-in-one resin-based LumiPocket LT 3D printer, which eventually gathered more than $60,000 in pledges. However, they already have another, professional grade version of the LumiPocket LT lined up: the LumiForge resin 3D printer. Essentially a higher quality version of the LumiPocket with an enclosed build space and various automated processes, it looks like a perfect option for the creation of jewelry and medical accessories, and will be ready for shipping as early as May 2016.

It’s almost unsurprising, as Lumi Industries are quickly building a reputation for never resting on their laurels and always looking towards the next product. Back in December, their CEO Marin Davide also revealed they are even working on a fascinating design feature that could be integrated on just about every desktop 3D printer in the future. Called the LumiFold system, it’s a Z-axis mechanism that makes the 3D printer smaller than the maximum part height, and will expand during 3D printing. The Lumi team recently also presented the LumiKit at the Maker Faire in Rimini, a boxed version of the LumiPocket.

In that respect, a professional grade 3D printer was only to be expected from the Italian innovators. And as they explain to 3ders.org, their LumiForge resin 3D printer is essentially an upgrade to their popular LumiPocket LT. “With [the LumiPocket LT] being almost at the end of this device development and ready to start production, part of Lumi Industries team has also been working on the development of a more professional product based on our previous LumiPocket Pro design,” they reveal.

Why? Because as part of their feedback, they also got a great response from professional users. “LumiPocket was born for hobbyists, but thanks to the great performance offered, it became soon a device especially requested by professionals, artisans and small and medium enterprises in the fields of jewelry, orthodontic, miniatures, mechanicals etc.,” they say. In order to better satisfy their wishes and give an affordable and adequate quality to those professional users, they felt that a separate, professional-grade resin DLP 3D printer was just a necessity.

And that, in a nutshell, is what the LumiPocket is supposed to be – the evolution of the LumiPocket. “Based on the same top to bottom projection system, LumiForge has now an enclosed design which protects the working area from external light that might interfere during printing and contains resin odor. At the same time, it guarantees a good ventilation to ensure the projector lifetime,” they say of their new machine. The manual processes, such as projector and resin carriage movement, has now also been completely automated – as has printing area and curing time setting.

Aside from that, it’s simply a machine with excellent specifications. The LumiForge produces an excellent resolution of up to 37 microns on all three axis. The printing area is 10 by 10 centimeters – though can be extended to 15 by 10 centimeters with an accessory XL Kit. “While speed is important, we think that quality is what really counts and we are nevertheless offering a good average speed, which varies according to chosen resolution and material, of approximately 18mm/hour at 75μm,” they add. To make it easier to use, they have also added several new features to the Lumi Creator software.

If you’re interested, you can already pre-order a limited amount of machines through the Lumi Industries website here with shipping starting as early as mid-May. The full specifications can be found below.

Specifications:

3D Printing technology:

TOP DLP

Building Volume:

Standard Kit: 10cm diameter MAX, height 10 cm

Kit XL: 15x10cm, height 10cm

Printing resolution:

Resolution: up to 37µm (X, Y, Z)

Average speed: 18mm/hr at 75µm (according to material and chosen resolution)